The present invention relates to toasters for toasting and heating food products such as bread, bagels, and other food items such as waffles or poptarts, and especially to such toasters used for commercial purposes. Such toasters have had electrically heated elements within the toaster that radiate heat toward food products placed near the element. In a commercial setting such toasters are submitted to repetitive use and the durability and life of the product is important. Additionally, in commercial establishments, toasters are placed on work counters or tables and thus take up space. The space on such counters, tables and the like, can be used for a variety of purposes such as placing food or trays thereon. The toasters may be placed adjacent or near a wall or other piece of equipment, and heat from the toaster can radiate outwardly to heat such nearby objects or things
In the prior art, toasters have used a toaster/heater unit that has been mounted within a frame of a toaster housing. Such units have comprised a sheet of insulating materials such as mica or thicker ceramic fiber. The sheet has had a rectangular shape wherein the thickness is much smaller than the width and height. The sheet has been divided into two separate sections. Holes have been formed in the center of the two divided sections. The edges of the board have a plurality of notches interspaced by a plurality of projecting nibs. The holes in the center of the two board sections are formed by a plurality of notches and projecting nibs extending along the inside edges of the two board sections. An electrical heating element has been wrapped around the prior art board sections to pass through notches in the edges of the board, to wrap through the center holes to thus wrap around both sides of the board sections. The wrapping of the band has extended first around both sides of a board section. After wrapping around one board section, the band extends to the outer edge of the other board section. The band then wraps around the length of the other board section from one side to the other side. The ends of the heating element have been connected to electrical terminals. With such wrapping of the heating element about the board, there is about as much of the heating element windings on one side of the board as on the opposite side of the board. The windings are closer together at the bottom of the board than at the top, with the space between strands incrementally increasing from bottom to top. Such prior art units have been mounted with a frame inside the housing so that a piece of bread, bagel or other food item is placed between the sides of two such toaster/heater units. The heat radiating from the two boards radiates toward each side of the food item, for example, bread, to toast or heat the bread. However, in such prior art units a large amount of heat is also radiated from the side of the boards of the heater/toaster units that face away from the food item. Such radiated heat does not act to heat or toast the food item but simply heats the unit unnecessarily. With such prior art unit, to toast or heat multiple food items simultaneously, the heating/toaster units are arranged in pairs. For example, with four pairs of boards, each pair of boards are spaced from each other so that a toaster/heating compartment is formed therebetween. Typically the compartments were aligned so that one of the heater/toaster boards was towards the side of the housing of the toaster on opposite sides of the unit. Space is provided between the toaster/heater units within the housing to more greatly separate them from each other to reduce the impact of the heat radiating to adjacent units. Such prior art units thus contain a lot of dead and ineffectively used space between the compartments. Such prior art units generate unnecessary heat within the unit and also cause the units to be large because of the space provided to separate the sides of the boards that radiate away from the toaster/heating compartments.
In the prior art, the boards of such toaster/heater units have had terminals connected to the ends of the heating element. The terminals have comprised metal plates mounted on opposite sides of the boards to face one another in close proximity. The portions of the terminals that projected from the board are separated by a piece of insulating material such as mica. However, with such an arrangement, a crack or abnormality in the material separating the terminals could cause a short circuit between the terminals and thus improper performance of the heating element. Further the terminals and the wiring to them are toward the top of the board and hence receive heat flowing by convection from therebelow toward the top of the board.
Also in the prior art the heating element boards are mounted within the surrounding structure that served as bread or food guides, to prevent the food product from getting too close to the heating element. However the heating element board was capable of movement relative to such surrounding structure so that there was not a fixed distance between the heating element board and the surrounding food guide structure. Such lack of uniformity creates unpredictability in the degree of heating or toasting of the food.
Additionally, in the prior art there has been employed carriage assemblies with food supports upon which the food can be placed to be lowered and raised into and out of the toaster/heater compartments. Such carriages have used a pin to engage the surface of a pivoting lock member to push it to the side as the carriage descends until the pin moves into the slot beneath the locking member. The locking member pivots by spring action to overlie the carriage pin.
Such prior art carriage member has interacted with a switch to control the toasting/heating of the food product. The activating switch in the prior art has a button or the like which is moveable to set the switch in an on or an off position. The carriage has descended so that an extension from it strikes the button at an angle, causing less than desirable function and also wear and tear on the switch button or the like.